2015 Super Rugby Final

Event	2015 Super Rugby season
Hurricanes Highlanders 14 21
Date	4 July 2015
Venue	Westpac Stadium, Wellington
Referee	Jaco Peyper (South Africa)
Attendance	36,000

The 2015 Super Rugby Final, was played between the Hurricanes and the Highlanders. It was the 20th final in the Super Rugby competition's history and the fifth under the expanded 15-team format. This was the first Super Rugby final between two New Zealand teams since 2006 when the Hurricanes were beaten by the Crusaders.

The match was won by the Highlanders who beat the Hurricanes by seven points. Upon winning the match, the Highlanders became the first team to win the competition having failed to win a conference. They also became the first team to win the competition having played in the qualifiers round.

In New Zealand, 583,620 people tuned in to watch

Road to the Final

Finals Series qualifying teams

Conference leaders
Pos	Team	W	D	L	PD	BP	Pts
1	Hurricanes	14	0	2	+170	10	66
2	Waratahs	11	0	5	+96	8	52
3	Stormers	10	1	5	+50	3	45
Wildcard teams
4	Highlanders	11	0	5	+117	9	53
5	Chiefs	10	0	6	+73	8	48
6	Brumbies	9	0	7	+108	11	47
Source: SANZAR [1]

The 2015 Super Rugby competition involved fifteen teams, five each from South Africa, Australia and New Zealand.^[2] The 2015 season was the fifth year of an expanded 15 team format (12 teams competed between 1996 and 2005, before increasing to 14 between 2006 and 2010).^[2]

The competition began on 13 February with the regular season consisting of 120 matches over eighteen weeks. Each team played the others from their own conference (both home and away), plus four out of five teams from the other two countries (two at home and two away in each case). The top six teams after the regular season advanced to the finals.^[2]

The Hurricanes finished top of the New Zealand conference and topped the overall standings, with fourteen wins and just two losses during the season (one being to the Australian conference winner, the Waratahs). The South African conference winner was the Stormers, and the three wildcard teams making the playoffs were the Highlanders, Chiefs, and Brumbies.

The play-off fixtures were as follows:

	First round					Semifinals					Final
						27 June 2015
	20 June 2015					1	Hurricanes	29
	3	Stormers	19			6	Brumbies	9			4 July 2015
	6	Brumbies	39								Hurricanes		14
						27 June 2015					Highlanders		21
	20 June 2015					2	Waratahs	17
	4	Highlanders	24			4	Highlanders	35
	5	Chiefs	14

Qualifiers

	20 June 2015	Highlanders	24–14	Chiefs	Forsyth Barr Stadium, Dunedin
	19:35	Try: Waisake Naholo  24', 43' Con: Lima Sopoaga  44' (1/2) Pen: Lima Sopoaga  6', 57', 66', 80' (4/4) Drop: Waisake Naholo (0/1)	Report[3] Scoreboard[4]	Try: Brodie Retallick  60' Con: Andrew Horrell (0/1) Pen: Andrew Horrell  8', 28', 40' (3/5)	Attendance: 22,500 Referee: Chris Pollock

	20 June 2015	Stormers	19–39	Brumbies	Newlands Stadium, Cape Town
	17:05	Try: Cheslin Kolbe  45' Con: Demetri Catrakilis  46' (1/1) Pen: Demetri Catrakilis  13', 34', 49', 60' (4/4)	Report[5] Scoreboard[6]	Try: Joe Tomane  4', 15', 25' Scott Sio  40' Ita Vaea  63' Jesse Mogg  79' Con: Christian Lealiifano  26', 40', 64' (3/6) Pen: Christian Lealiifano  51' (1/1) Cards: Henry Speight  74' Scott Fardy  75'	Referee: Jaco Peyper

Semi-finals

	27 June 2015	Hurricanes	29–9	Brumbies	Westpac Stadium, Wellington
	19:35	Try: Julian Savea  21' TJ Perenara  28' Ardie Savea  43' Matt Proctor  74' Con: Beauden Barrett  29' (1/2) James Marshall  44', 75' (2/2) Pen: Beauden Barrett (0/1) James Marshall  66' (1/2)	Report[7] Scoreboard[8]	Pen: Jesse Mogg  40' (1/1) Christian Lealiifano  50', 57' (2/2)	Attendance: 34,500 Referee: Glen Jackson

	27 June 2015	Waratahs	17–35	Highlanders	Allianz Stadium, Sydney
	19:55	Try: Rob Horne  11' Con: Bernard Foley (0/1) Pen: Bernard Foley  23', 31', 37', 51' (4/4) Cards: Jacques Potgieter 58' to 68'	Report Scoreboard[9]	Try: Aaron Smith  19' Richard Buckman  33' Waisake Naholo  53' penalty try  58' Patrick Osborne  78' Con: Ben Smith (0/1) Lima Sopoaga  34', 59' (2/4) Pen: Lima Sopoaga  5' (1/3) Drop: Lima Sopoaga  75' (1/2)	Attendance: 32,632 Referee: Craig Joubert

References